Olmsted's Research
I study the structure and dynamics of various complex fluids: liquid
crystals, polymers, gels and elastomers, lipid and surfactant systems;
basically anything that flows and has (subjectively!) interesting
behavior. Interesting phenomena include: phase behavior and morphology,
coupling between internal order and external fields, non-equilibrium
dynamics and phase transitions, dynamic instabilities, and examples of
`important' statistical mechanics issues that are represented though
complex fluids.
Current areas of interest are shear banding and flow-structure
relation in soft and biological matter, the physics of lipid bilayer
membranes.
- I am collaborating with NIST
on Additive Manufacturing to try and understand some of the
polymer physics behind 3D printing.
- I am an overseas member of CAPITALS,
a 5 year programme grant (2012-2017) funded by the EPSRC and devoted to
the physical aspects of lipid bilayer membranes.
- I was previously a member of ESMI, a network devoted to enhancing the Soft
Matter Infrastructure in Europe.
- Together with Dr Daniel Read (Leeds Applied Mathematics) I co-ordinated DYNACOP, an
EU-funded Integrated Training Network devoted to the DYnamics of
Architecturally COmplex Polymers, with 12 academic and industrial
partners across Europe.